Touch screens are quite a marvel, but they still come with a few downsides. The glass used can be highly reflective, making it hard to see the display in open daylight, and since we touch our phones constantly, they're susceptible to getting all sorts of germs on them. However, Gorilla Glass make Corning says they're developing a new glass to counter these annoyances.

During the MIT Mobile Technology Summit, senior vice president and operations chief of staff for Corning Dr. Jeffrey Evenson discussed some of the advantages of Gorilla Glass, as well as some future technologies that will be implemented into the glass in the future, including anti-reflective and antimicrobial tech.

During the presentation, Evenson showed a slide that reveals a piece of glass with what appears to be round hole in the middle. However, Evenson went on to note that it's actually not a hole but rather a section of the glass panel that has been treated with the new anti-reflection technology from Corning. Obviously, you can tell a huge difference.

As for the company's antimicrobial tech, Corning says that it'll be able to kill germs and viruses that can stick to your phone's screen (which can eventually spread to other people or even yourself). Studies showed that after half an hour, a significant amount of germs were eliminated from the screen, while most or all of the germs were completely gone after around two hours. It's certainly not an instant process, but it's much better than having the germs lie dormant for days.

Corning said they don't have an exact timeline of when to expect this new glass to roll out onto smartphones and tablets, but Evenson mentioned a vague "in the next two years," so it seems we'll be waiting for a little while. In the meantime, take comfort in knowing that your smartphone screen is filled with all sorts of nasty stuff that may or may not kill you.